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Deborah: Judges 4-5
After the death of Ehud, the children of Israel once again returned to their evil ways. Therefore, God “sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan.” The commander of his army was named Sisera. Jabin oppressed the children of Israel for twenty years, so they cried out to God for help.
Apparently there weren't many strong men to lead Israel. A prophetess named Deborah would sit under in the hill country of Ephraim, and the children of Israel would go up to her for judgment. She sent for a man named Barak and told him that God had commanded them to go up to Mount Tabor to meet Sisera, and God would deliver Sisera and his army into the hands of Israel. Barak said he would go if she would go with him. Deborah told him she would go, but that he would not receive the honor for winning the battle, “for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.”
Sisera met Barak in battle, and “the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak.” Sisera fled on foot to the tent of a woman named Jael. She covered him with a rug and he fell asleep. Then she took a tent peg and drove it through his temple into the ground. He was sold into the hand of a woman.
Israel defeated her enemies that day, and the song of Deborah is recorded in Judges 5, giving praise to God for what He had accomplished among the people.
“Thus let all Your enemies perish, O LORD; but let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.”
And the land was undisturbed for forty years.
Discussion
1. Since Deborah was a prophetess, what does that mean she had the ability to do?
2. Why would the people go to her for judgment?
3. Why was Barak not going to receive honor for defeating Sisera?
4. Who was Jael, and what was her role in this victory?
5. Who is given ultimate credit for defeating the enemies of the Israelites?